Familiar to fans of the ‘Wild at Heart’ television series, Glen Afric Lodge is more than a famous film location setting. Many of the African animals featured on our cinema screens were first rescued and rehabilitated here.

Celebrating the Wild at Glen Afric

John Brooker made a career in game capture and rehabilitation throughout Africa. In a style reminiscent of wild rodeo wrangling, Brooker could spend months in remote areas of the continent tracking, darting and moving endangered animals to locations they could be protected and bred for posterity. “In the beginning we had a mortality rate of 80%,” he shares sadly. “Stress killed animals. We had to adapt how we caught, transported and released animals back into the wild very quickly.”

His experience quickly made him an international expert in animal handling. He bought and settled on a 2,000 hectare farm near the Hartbeespoort dam and started using the estate as a quarantine and rehabilitation venue for animals in transit to new, safer, destinations. When rangers at Kruger National Park were forced to cull a number of elephant in that reservation to manage the population growth, Booker was the man they turned to with a motley remnant of elephant calves.

“We received a number of baby elephants to Glen Afric which was my private home back then,” he reminisces. “Cow’s milk is too rich for most animals. I was the first to devise a successful feed formula with rice milk to feed the baby elephants.” He admits.

Three and a fellow male elephant, Bully, were kept at Glen Afric, while the balance of orphans were rehomed to other private reserves. The pair lived freely on the small private farm, interacting with people and ‘performing’ as part of the cast of the British Television series “Wild at Heart” filmed on location at Glen Afric. They matured and eight years ago were blessed with their own young calf, Hannah. Three took to motherhood naturally. Calmly sharing her joyful bundle with her Glen Afric family. Bully, unfortunately, became more volatile in his maturity, displaying disturbing behaviour toward the young calf. The sad decision was made to send him to an elephant sanctuary in the Eastern Cape. Three remained with her baby, Hannah.

At this time, Brooker was approached by Kruger National Park again. Rangers had rescued a baby calf, separated from her mother and herd and washed some distance downstream in a flash flood. The team nervously introduced this calf to the new mother Three. They had no idea how she would react to this new addition to the farm. They need never have concerned themselves. Three threw her trunk around her and took him firmly into her care….Marty and Hannah are now eight years old and firm friends.

Glen Afric has homed a wide variety of displaced animals needing special care and rehabilitation. Among them, Selati the leopard who is best friends with the golden lab Tommy, Jack the zebra seen most famously on various Investec commercials as well as Roxy the spotted Hyena making a ‘ferocious’ appearance when needed and Bailey, the three-legged cheetah.

From popular South African productions like Mr. Bones, Zulu on my Stoep and Jock of the Bushveld to international blockbusters starring the likes of Jackie Chan and Angelina Jolie, Glen Afric proves the perfect African Movie Backdrop.